By Jim Turner ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — With the industry’s problems exacerbated by Hurricane Milton, Florida citrus growers are turning to state and federal lawmakers for help.
Florida Citrus Commission Chair Steve Johnson said Wednesday he’s met with farmers from North Carolina and Georgia, who sustained damage in last month’s Hurricane Helene, to jointly pressure Congress to pass agricultural disaster assistance.
“I think this is the perfect time to get that passed and kind of get everybody on the same page,” Johnson said during a Citrus Commission meeting.
Florida’s citrus industry didn’t take a direct hit from Helene, which made landfall in Taylor County before barreling across parts of North Florida and into states such as Georgia and North Carolina. But citrus growers are looking at losses overall of about 20 percent from Hurricane Milton, which came ashore Oct. 9 in Sarasota County and crossed the state.
Matt Joyner, CEO of Bartow-based Florida Citrus Mutual, said loss numbers are extremely preliminary, as they are based on surveys of less than one-third of the acres in the state.
“We know that that does not reflect the fact that in many of our counties … that are well over 50, 60 and even 80 percent loss,” Joyner told the commission. “There have been pockets that have been hit very, very hard.”
Johnson said there “is some encouragement,” as preliminary indications show Milton didn’t cause tree damage similar to other storms. Such tree damage can have long-lasting effects.
Still, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services has estimated Milton caused between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion in losses for farmers and ranchers, with citrus losses potentially reaching $642 million.
Joyner said most growers have crop insurance, but that has not been adequate to address damage from 2022’s Hurricane Ian, other storms and a freeze.
Even before Milton, growers were expected to see a decline in production during the 2024-2025 season as they continued to try to recover from Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in Southwest Florida and hammered major citrus-growing areas of the state.
An initial U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast for the 2024 season showed an overall 16.8 percent decrease in production of oranges, grapefruit and specialty fruits from the 2023-2024 season. The projections, made before Milton, also showed the industry below the 2022-2023 season output, which was the lowest in 90 years.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will issue another forecast in December.
Joyner said growers are more hopeful about getting assistance from the state Legislature than from the more “unpredictable” federal government.
In late September, Congress passed what is known as a continuing resolution that extended government funding through Dec. 20. The measure didn’t include additional money for disaster relief programs under the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
State efforts could be bolstered by Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, whose business holdings include a sizable egg farm in Trilby, and incoming Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican who is a citrus grower and former chairman of the Citrus Commission.
Joyner said both have helped the industry after hurricanes, but also in the more than two-decade fight against deadly citrus greening disease.
“I think it’s clear to many that we’re on the right track,” Joyner said. “We need a few good growing seasons to continue to move that track along.”
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